Venus: The Unwanted "Child" that ruined the "marriage" of Eastman and Laird?
 

In his most recent "Ask PL" blog post, Peter was asked about Venus. Here is the back and forth:
Could this back track, be the rift that broke up the dream team of Kevin and Peter?

If nothing else, it was surely the straw that broke the camel's back. Toyfair photos from around 1997 show Eastman living it up at the Playmates Next Mutation booth but Laird was no where to be seen.

I found this quite interesting and a good insight into Venus. I think it was a combination of this and other unspoken things that broke the guys up. I would like to hear Kevin's side of things

I have to say tho, the person who asked him about this on his blog is an awesome guy for doing so and most likely would comment on this thread about how awesome he is...
...
..
It was me

Aw, poor Venus. Nobody loves you :(

Except for certain people on Deviantart, it seems...

Peter and Kevin hadn't been seeing eye to eye for quite awhile before Venus came along.

Man, we need someone to just write a tell-all-memoir already.

Venus was a terrible idea. Next Mutation might have been better received without her.

I'm indifferent to the idea of Venus. I don't see the idea of a female turtle that strange considering the series at all.

The breasts protruding from underneath her shell is the first thing that comes to mind when I recollect Next Mutation episodes. Then again I guess that's the only way you can distinguish an anthropomorphic female turtle from a male turtle other than the voice.

There tons of other ways, but breasts are the easiest (and laziest) way to do it. same goes for hair, just look at the countless female mutant turtles on deviant Art

Why would a female turtle have breasts when their reptiles that don't care for their offspring. The female turtle's plastron will make it impossible for offspring to reach it for sustenance. The enlarged breasts of a female creature only exist to feed it's offspring. So, it looks like they just put breasts on a creature that doesn't have any or needs it because of their solitary evolution.

My guess it's because the mutagen makes creatures not just humanoid, but human-like.

The turtles get teeth (and lips?), pose-able thumbs and overall a body more akin to Humans or primates, and their Carapace and Plastron seems to be more move-able then the usual Turtle species have. And the upper part is often shaped like a Male Human chest. And besides appearance the mutant turtles gets human-like emotions and the ability to comprehended languages and speak like humans, and think as we do

It wouldn't be out of the question that a female turtle could get mammary glands in that context. but the plastron would be in the way, that the shell is a part of a turtle's ribcage, Boobs would be impossible, but hey. Turtle teeth.

Shell-boobs are as useless as Chain Mail bikini, but hey it looks kewlzors!

She has fans, don't worry.

Venus was clumsily added, I admit. She could have been better received if she followed Ninjara's route in the comics.

Dude, I wanted to make the exact same thread yesterday but then I was thinking, no, I'm overthinking this. I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought of this.

It would certainly explain Laird's intense antagonistic feelings towards her.

Gender equality
 

Venus makes me feel this:

*If TMNT debuted today instead of 1984, with more gender gender equality, would two of them actually be female, and two male?

Well equality to me doesn't have to mean equal quantity. Just equal in character quality.

It's true, it wouldn't be a boy's cartoon if there wasn't a token girl in there somewhere.

Tmnt
 

TMNT was never the same "just for boys" as so much other. TMNT had a big girl fanbase and I hate hearing TMNT as "just for boys". I know several girls who loved the show. When a group of children played TMNT in the garden, they were April and Irma.

Also, check out Archie April when Splinter trains her.

Thank you! :tgrin:

Of course it was a little annoying that the girls could never play the turtles. Ever heard of gender blind casting? lol